Southern Indiana company tapped to build new nuclear reactors

December 06, 2006

MOUNT VERNON, Ind. (AP) Â? The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has tapped a southern Indiana plant to make parts for dozens of nuclear reactors expected to be built during a renaissance of atomic energy.

BWX Technologies of Mount Vernon has received approval from the commission to make components for nuclear plants that could be less than a year away from construction, chairman Dale Klein said Tuesday.

"You will be playing a key role in the manufacture of these large components and in restarting the nuclear industry in the United States," Klein told employees during a tour of the plant in the community 20 miles west of Evansville.

The announcement comes decades after the last nuclear power plant was built in the U.S. Catastrophic incidents on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 and at a Russian reactor in Chernobyl seven years later sparked alarm over the safety of nuclear power.

But Klein said communities have once again begun looking favorably on nuclear plants because of increased concern over air pollution caused by fossil fuels.

"Nuclear is one of those places where an accident anywhere is an accident everywhere," Klein said. "We need to be a strong regulator to make sure the public feels secure."

No nuclear plants have been built in the United States since 1978. But there are 31 new orders for plants that could receive approval in 2007, Klein said. There are also 103 operating nuclear plants nationwide often in need of repairs, he said.

John Fees, president and chief operating officer at BWX, said employment could grow rapidly at the plant if the nuclear industry continues to expand.

"I think the possible expansion is a couple of years away," Fees said.